Caldor Inc., one of the nation's largest discount department store chains, plans to open a second Lehigh Valley store this year at Crest Plaza Shopping Center in South Whitehall.

If the township grants approval, the Caldor store would replace the IGA supermarket in the shopping center, which is off Cedar Crest Boulevard near Route 22. The IGA would be demolished.

Caldor would have one floor with 113,000 square feet -- nearly seven times larger than the IGA. Besides filling the IGA space, Caldor would occupy vacant land owned by the shopping center's owner, the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.

Caldor opened its first Lehigh Valley store in November 1993, in the Lehigh Shopping Center in West Bethlehem.

Unless bad weather becomes a problem or the township approval process is delayed, Caldor hopes to open in South Whitehall by November, according to Carl Freedman, vice president of Freedman and Co. Real Estate Inc., the shopping center's developers and agents.

Freedman acknowledged it's an ambitious schedule to tear down one building and construct another in that time. But he added, "It's a realistic date if no glitches appear."

A lease has been signed with Caldor, he said. Caldor officials did not return several calls seeking comment.

He said it no longer makes sense to have two supermarkets competing with each other in the same shopping center. Weis Markets has a store in the center. Caldor would improve the tenant mix, he said.

IGA owner Ken Schneider refused to comment about the plans for the shopping center. "It's a touchy situation," he said.

About four years ago, Schneider alleged that the shopping center's owners were trying to force IGA out by not renovating the store, even though the owners had other stores there renovated at a cost of more than $2 million.

Schneider said at the time that IGA would not be forced out.

Based on Schneider's comments at the time, IGA has about six years left on the lease.

As part of the shopping center expansion, three smaller, unattached buildings would be constructed. Though tenants have not been found for those buildings, Freedman hopes that one would be occupied by a fast-food restaurant, another by a sit-down restaurant and the third by a bank.

On Jan. 19, the township Planning Commission, an advisory body, is to review drawings for the expansion, according to Gerald Harbison, the township's assistant director for community development. If the commission approves the drawings, the plans would then go to the township commissioners.

Traffic lights are being considered at three sites around the shopping center and improvements might be made to the roadway at Walbert Avenue and Cedar Crest Boulevard.

Last spring, Dries Do-it Center opened its second home-supply center in Crest Plaza, replacing a True Value Hardware store.